After the Corona epidemic, the war in Ukraine and the inflation crisis, this year it appears that the war in Gaza and its global consequences, along with other security crises and the slow hyperbole of the world order, will be at the top of the agenda of the World Economic Forum in Davos. “This year’s gathering is taking place against the background of the most complicated geopolitical situation recorded so far,” warned Borga Brenda, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the organization behind the gathering held annually in the Swiss town. About 2,800 leaders, a handful of billionaires, many company heads, media persons and others are participating in the discussions, which began on Monday and will end on Friday. This year too, business and the economy remain in the backseat, while the global crises and the politicians involved in them focus most of the attention.
Nearly 100 of them are participating in the event, and the regional airports around the ski town, which once a year becomes a place of pilgrimage where demonstrations hardly ever take place and the business and political elites rub shoulders with each other in the spotlight and behind the scenes, are ready for the hundreds of private flights that will land there in the coming days. More than 5,000 police officers are securing the event, and Switzerland is proud of the safety with which the gatherings have been conducted so far.
Outside the Davos Forum, this week. A permanent destination for the demonstration of presence by company heads and technology tycoons / Photo: Reuters, Denis Balibouse
Also this year there is a poor presence of super leaders
In recent years, the annual gathering in Davos has not featured the presence of super-leaders such as the President of the United States or the President of China (and certainly not the President of Russia, who previously opened the discussions at the conference). But this year it seems that the promised names, always announced at the last minute, are a guarantee of media prominence, Especially against the background of the poverty of the previous years. This includes, among other things, the Prime Minister of China, Li Chiang, whose words everyone is expecting regarding the tensions and the struggle against the US, and especially what he will say after the elections in Taiwan, which once again placed an opponent of China at the head of the independent island.
Another key guest is expected to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will physically arrive at the summit. Zelensky will meet at the event with European leaders and also with the top of the American administration (without President Joe Biden), who will also arrive in Switzerland for discussions on the state of the battles with Russia and the possibility of consolidating renewed security and economic aid that will lead to a breakthrough on the battlefield, or even a peace agreement. According to the reports, the US intends to pressure the Ukrainian president to present “more concrete plans” in the military field.
The organizers of the conference also pointed out the large number of participating leaders from the Middle East, and special attention will be paid to President Yitzhak Herzog, who this year will become a very central figure due to the war in Gaza, the attacks against merchant ships in the Red Sea and the real risk of a regional conflict in the Middle East. When the guests of honor at the gathering are also the Secretary General of the United Nations, the head of the World Health Organization and the head of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, it is possible that the headlines coming out of Davos in the coming week will not be very positive for Israel.
The US president will not attend, but many European leaders will
Next to the business and economic aspect of Davos, one of the key questions every year is which of the world leaders will come to the ski town.
In the past, it was former US President Donald Trump who captured the world’s attention in Davos, before him it was Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among them, the President of China also visited the town. In recent years, the heads of powers have avoided attending the prestigious gathering, either for reasons of visibility or Due to more important things to take care of, but the reports about who will participate keep the conference attendees and the media busy until the last minute.
One of the leaders who will return to the conference this year after years of absence is French President Emmanuel Macron. The French president is politically bruised and is in his second and last term, with low popularity ratings and no majority in parliament. In the past, Macron avoided participation due to the convention’s prestigious image, while within his country there were demonstrations against him on economic grounds, either during the “shining vests” protest or in protest of the price increases in the country.
Now, he doesn’t have much to lose. He will be joined by most of the European leaders, from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, as well as outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Also this year, no Russian official was invited to the conference due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Among the international guests, Argentina’s new president Javier Millay, a radical economist in his outlook who has been leading his country since he was elected to the position about two months ago, is expected to gain a lot of attention.
This year’s event is marked by the “restoration of trust”
While last year’s gathering in Davos focused on the growing fear of the many threats to global stability, and placed “Polycrisis” at the top of its agenda, this year the organizers will try to deal with those that have already materialized on the ground, under the more optimistic title – “Restoring Trust” . This trust, which has collapsed between superpowers, between countries, between political camps and also in business, is the one that threatens to deteriorate global stability in the coming year as well. “The only way forward is to come together and find solutions,” Banda said.
Klaus Schwab, 85 years old, who founded the World Economic Forum and the annual meeting in Davos in the 1970s and is still the head of the organization (despite past promises to retire), said in recent days: “We are facing an increasingly fractured world, with social gaps that lead to chronic uncertainty and pessimism We must rebuild trust in our future by moving from crisis management to examining the root causes of local problems and jointly building a more promising future.”
The families of the abductees will arrive; The video of the horrors will be shown to a limited forum
President Yitzhak (Boji) Herzog will be the senior Israeli participant in Davos this year. As in previous years, Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron will also participate in the discussions that will take place at this week’s event.
At the same time, among the passengers to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum will also be representatives who will try to focus the world’s attention on the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip and on the terrible terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7. The headquarters of the families of the abductees is expected to send relatives whose loved ones were abducted in Gaza to the World Economic Forum, as well as possibly one or more of the abductees who were released in previous deals. They are expected to appear at an event organized on Wednesday by the Palantir company, which has shown great solidarity with Israel in recent months, and even held a symbolic board meeting in Israel.
On Monday evening, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, a video of Hamas’ atrocities, previously shown to journalists and foreign ambassadors by Israeli information sources, will be shown to a “limited circle of invited guests”. According to reports, Eyal Waldman, the technology entrepreneur whose daughter Daniel Waldman and her partner Noam Shai were murdered by Hamas terrorists at the “Nova” music festival, will also be at the screening and will speak to the guests. Among those present at the event are expected to be CEOs and presidents of international companies, as well as senior officials from many countries. Lenore Abergil, the activist against sexual violence and rape, is also expected to participate in the gathering and speak on a panel that will be held at the event.
The threat of artificial intelligence and the fear of Trump’s response
There has never been a shortage of grandiose promises and high language in Davos, but for decades the annual gathering has not led to breakthroughs on a global level, but serves more as a networking event. Despite this, the forum manages to maintain its status year after year. The 54th gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week succeeds in gathering interest, among other things through a massive invitation of journalists, influencers, through effective distribution of materials and also through surveys that examine global issues and grab headlines. This year, such a survey revealed that one of the biggest threats to the economy is AI, as the organizers of the forum announced last week.
In addition, in the years that have passed, the World Economic Forum has become a kind of business octopus, dominating conferences around the world, publications in various fields (such as human development, gender equality, etc.) and turning over hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Another survey, conducted by the organization, shows that generation Z continues to see Davos as a relevant place, and 60% of them see the annual meeting as “a place where leaders can meet and make the world a better place.”
Another topic will hover over the discussions in Davos this year, and that is the possible return of Donald Trump to the position of US President, if his run for the presidency of the Republican Party succeeds in the legal difficulties and the polls giving him a majority in the public are adjusted. Only this week it was revealed that during his visit to Davos in 2020, Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and dropped a bomb in the room when he said that “NATO is dead, and the US will not come to your aid if you are attacked.” You have to understand that if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help and support you.”
Not only the US elections, but also the fact that in the coming year billions of people will go to the polls around the globe is one of the hot topics on the agenda of the conference. Democratic elections – more or less – will be held this year in about 40 countries, in which more than three billion people will participate , according to estimates, which may reshape the global geopolitical picture.
Donald Trump. It was recently revealed that during his visit to Davos in 2020, the former president stated that the US would not come to the aid of Europe / Photo: Shutterstock
Macroeconomic issues were pushed to the margins of the conference
From the business point of view, the convention serves as a permanent target for the demonstration of presence by company heads and technology tycoons such as Bill Gates (who will participate in the convention this year as well), who dabble in politics and business with great success. Huge companies “buy tickets” to the event through cooperation agreements with the World Economic Forum in Davos for six-figure sums (in Swiss francs), and companies trying to stand out rent booths on the main street of the town, where they hold various events saturated with champagne and celebrities.
This year it will be Sam Altman, who heads OpenAI, who will visit Davos and will probably get a lot of attention. Alongside him, about 800 heads of international companies are expected to arrive in Davos this week, according to the organizers, and a thousand “partner companies” of the World Economic Forum.
Rather, macroeconomic issues have lost some of their urgency, against the background of expectations – or promises – of a “soft landing” of the American economy. The inflation crisis did not get out of control as feared last year, and despite the economic shuffling of Europe and the fact that global growth this year is expected to be minimal and even smaller than last year, there is a perception that the central banks have successfully led the fight against it.
Instead, the focus this year will be on the World Bank’s warning published in recent days, according to which the tensions and the war in the Red Sea could lead to a supply crisis, a spike in energy prices and even a global economic crisis. As the forum that helped a lot to promote the globalization of the last decades, the annual gathering in Davos reflects in recent years in a growing way the fear that its golden days are over.
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